People must not do things for fun. We are not here for fun. There is no reference to fun in any act of Parliament.
—A. P. Herbert (1890–1971) English Humorist, Novelist, Playwright, Politician
Horse-play, romping, frequent and loud fits of laughter, jokes, and indiscriminate familiarity, will sink both merit and knowledge into a degree of contempt. They compose at most a merry fellow; and a merry fellow was never yet a respectable man.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
Blessed is the man who has some congenial work, some occupation in which he can put his heart, and which affords a complete outlet to all the forces there are in him.
—John Burroughs (1837–1921) American Naturalist, Writer
We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun.
—William Glasser (b.1925) American Psychiatrist, Writer
I’m glad we had the times together just to laugh and sing a song, seems like we just got started and then before you know it, the times we had together were gone.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
I think I’ve discovered the secret of life — you just hang around until you get used to it.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Innocent amusements are such as excite moderately, and such as produce a cheerful frame of mind, not boisterous mirth; such as refresh, instead of exhausting, the system; such as recur frequently, rather than continue long; such as send us back to our daily duties invigorated in body and spirit; such as we can partake of in the presence and society of respectable friends; such as consist with and are favorable to a grateful piety; such as are chastened by self-respect, and are accompanied with the consciousness that life has a higher end than to be amused.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Most of the time I don’t have much fun. The rest of the time I don’t have any fun at all.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
You can have it all. Just not all at once.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
Oh, the good times when we were so unhappy.
—Alexandre Dumas pere (1802–1870) French Novelist, Playwright
I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That’s where the fun is.
—Donald Trump (b.1946) American Businessperson, Head of State
All of the animals except for man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it.
—Samuel Butler
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you break bread with indifference, you bake bitter bread that feeds but half a man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Man consists of two parts, his mind and his body, only the body has more fun.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you set about retiring them.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
Fun is a good thing but only when it spoils nothing better.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
I really don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive, you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you’ve got to jump around a lot, you’ve got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of death. And therefore, as I see it, if you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively.
—Mel Brooks (b.1926) American Film Actor, Screenwriter, Composer, Comedian, Actor
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
There’s no such thing as fun for the whole family.
—Jerry Seinfeld (b.1954) American Comedian
If you do not feel yourself growing in your work and your life broadening and deepening, if your task is not a perpetual tonic to you, you have not found your place.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur